Asia Cup 2020: Pakistan set to host the tournament

What's the story?

Pakistan has been given the rights to host the Asia Cup in 2020 by Asian Cricket Council. Due to the political issue with India and internal security reason, Pakistan might be forced to host the event in a neutral venue like UAE.

In case you didn't know

India was awarded the rights to host 2018 Asia Cup but they had to host the event in UAE due to the reluctance of Pakistan to tour India.

UAE has become a temporary home for Pakistan after teams have been reluctant to tour the country after the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan team bus in 2009.

Heart of the matter

The Asia Cup is set to be held in September 2020, which is just before the World T20. A PCB source said that Pakistan wants to host the event in their own country itself but the final decision would be taken after consultation with other concerned parties.

"Pakistan told the delegates at the ACC meeting held in Singapore that they would host the Asia Cup at home but a final decision on the venue would be taken after consultation with other members of the ACC and keeping in mind the prevailing security and political situation around that time in Pakistan," a PCB source told India Today

A BCCI source told that the government will take a call on this matter and BCCI would be happy to follow it's call. The source pointed out that India hosted the Asia Cup in a neutral venue so ideally even Pakistan should do that.

"The decision to play in Pakistan will completely be the government's call. The Board will follow whatever decision the centre takes. We believe that just like we hosted the tournament last year in the UAE, Pakistan should also ideally organise it at a neutral venue." The source said as quote by PTI

What's next?

It would be interesting to see if Pakistan agrees to host the event in a neutral venue. If Pakistan refuses to do so, India might decide to skip the event.